Photo by Keyli Chisesi (Go Big Blue Country)
Drew Barker was once the heralded recruit that Mark Stoops brought to Kentucky to help turn the program around from one of its lowest points. Fast-forward four years and Barker will finish his collegiate career elsewhere, announcing his plans to play his fifth season at another university. The announcement came via his Twitter account on Tuesday evening.
Barker came to Kentucky as a member of Stoops’ first full recruiting class and was considered to be the guy that held the class together. Upon arrival in Lexington, things didn’t go as planned for Barker. Barker and teammates Boom Williams, Dorian Baker, and Tymere Dubose were suspended for the South Carolina game in 2014 for walking around campus with airsoft guns. Not only that, he was also involved in an altercation at a bar that eventually led to him being sucker punched inside an Eastern Kentucky University dorm.
Despite the off the field issues, Barker was still believed to be the guy to lead the Wildcats offense. After sitting behind Patrick Towles for nearly two seasons, Barker took over with two games remaining in the 2015 season. He led the Wildcats to a win vs. Charlotte but Kentucky fell short of a bowl game after blowing a 21-0 lead vs. Louisville in the season finale.
The 2016 season began with promise for Barker and Kentucky. The product of Conner High School threw for nearly 300 yards and added four touchdowns in the first half alone vs. Southern Miss but was injured following a hit on the first possession of the second half, which eventually ended his season two games later.
Barker was forced to watch as Stephen Johnson, an unheralded junior college quarterback, took the job and never surrendered it back. Barker watched as Johnson helped rescue Kentucky football while leading the Wildcats to their first bowl game since 2010, things he was brought to Lexington to do.
Barker sat out a full year and didn’t participate in the spring game, hoping to regain his starting position for the 2017 season. Barker got his shot in the first half of a game vs. Eastern Kentucky but the offense went the wrong direction on two straight drives, which was not entirely his fault. It was more about what Stephen Johnson did than what Barker didn’t do. Johnson calmed the Wildcat offense and led them to a comeback victory vs. EKU, essentially slamming the door on any quarterback competition.
Now, Stephen Johnson will walk into the sunset, leaving the quarterback position for 2018 vacant. Barker was believed to return and compete for that job but after Kentucky signed Terry Wilson, an emerging JUCO quarterback, many felt Barker would choose a different path. Ultimately, Wilson and the return of Gunnar Hoak, Danny Clark, and Walker Wood make it a crowded competition for the quarterback to risk not playing in his final season.
Barker’s Kentucky career officially comes to end but in a sense, it really never got started. It’s unfortunate when someone loses their job after an injury but the Wildcats responded to Johnson. Barker was recruited to be the savior of Kentucky football and for one half, fans got the closest thing they had seen to Tim Couch since 1998 but unfortunately, it just wasn’t meant to be.
